The dice game that is rolling off the shelves (Yahtzee)

Member Name: mjw92

Product:	Yahtzee
Date:	03/07/08 (49 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: great gameplay

Disadvantages: can be a little difficult to get the hang of

Yahtzee, well the game play is as unique as its name and therefore it makes for exciting gameplay which is never the same twice over.

It is a dice game consisting of 13 throws by each player in which they have to roll certain combinations to score as many points as possible with the winner being the player with the most points.

The game manufacturers are of the opinion that the game is suitable for anyone 8 years or over. My opinion differs slightly as some of the rules can be complicated first without playing the game and so in my opinion a better suggested age would be 10 years plus, though this is just my opinion.

OK so more towards the game itself.

Inside the box is just the essentials, which make it compact and there is no assembly which takes forever. You will find:
A dice cup
Five Dice (possibly a spare but most likely not)
Score sheets for players to keep track of their score
(Possibly two pencils included to write on the score sheets)

OK so the objective of the game

is in simple terms to score the highest amount of points.
To score points you must roll combinations which are worth varying amounts of points depending on the probability.
Players take it in turns to try and roll a combination and when the turn is complete they must make a score mark in one of the sections.

So for a player to make a turn:

1. They take all five dice and roll them
2. Then make the choice of saving or playing some of the dice
( when a player saves the dice it is put to one side and contributes towards the dice setup at the end of the turn)
3. The dice the player chooses to play on with he/she rolls again and then chooses whether to save or play them once more
4. The dice the player still wishes to play are rolled for a final time and these are put in the final setup.

When the final dice setup is done the player has to see if it matches a combination and/or choose which combination to play if more than one is available.

Now for the combinations:

3 of a kind: you must roll a minimum of 3 numbers which must be equal. This score is the total of all 5 dice.
(i.e. 5,4,3,5,5 = three x 5. Score = 5+4+3+5+5 = 22)

4 of a kind: similar to 3 of a kind, however at least 4 of the dice must be the same value.
(i.e. 1,4,1,1,1 = four x 1. Score = 1+4+1+1+1 = 8)

*As a quick note this just shows that even though 4 of a kind is a harder combination, your score could not be as high as 3 of a kind, which is what makes yahtzee so interesting*
Anyway back to combinations

Full House: no the in-laws aren't coming to stay but you need to roll three of one value and 2 of another. This combination gives a fixed 25 points despite what numbers you roll
(i.e. 4,6,4,4,6 = three x 4 & two x 6. Score = 25)

Low straight: four of the dice in a numerical sequence. Just because it says low doesn't mean 1,2,3,4. It means just 4 numbers. It is worth a fixed 30 points.
(i.e. 3,4,5,6,1 = 3,4,5,6. Score = 30)

High Straight: five of the dice in a numerical sequence. This one is worth a very nice 40 points.
(i.e. 1,2,3,4,5. Score = 40)

Yahtzee: the word we've all been waiting for, screaming for whilst playing. THIS IS WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT! All five dice showing the same number gives a fixed 50 points.
(i.e. 3,3,3,3,3 = Yahtzee. Score = 50)

Chance: this is where none of the above combinations or "other combos" are possible, so the player elects to add all the dice together.
(i.e. 4,3,1,6,1. Score = 4+3+1+6+1 = 15)

That is what the game calls the lower section. The upper section is slightly different and quite similar to chance.

The upper section has 6 areas: 1s, 2s etc... 6s.
When you roll something that you decide goes up here you count the number of the section you rolled.
(i.e. 1,3,4,3,3. three x 3. Score = 9 in the 3s box)

There is an incentive to score highly this section as if you roll three of every number (score = 63) in the upper section then you are awarded a bonus 35 points.

So that is a rather lengthy but quite thorough explanation of the game. There are a couple of other details however.

If a second yahtzee is rolled by the same player, and extra 100 points is added to there total. Also, if a yahtzee is rolled a second time and the number is filled on the upper section (i.e. yahtzee of 6s and the 6s box is fuilled in) you can cross of any of the lower section boxes and use the total of the dice to put in as your score.

Finally, every turn you must cross off a section. If you cannot you must mark one box with a 0 score. This is fun towards the end of the game as there is less to aim for and you must question: is the yahtzee worthy or not?

So my opinion of the game.

Personally, I think this game is brilliant. It is a unique game in the fact nothing else is structured like this. Also, it doesn't have to be two players, you can play by yourself if you get bored and that for me is one of the best features. We have played this many many times and we still get excited every time we play.

The only disadvantage of this game is the fact that the concept can be difficult to grasp at the start, however there is a thorough rule book. Once you've played once though you will have got the gist.

My rating for this product can be none other than 5*

Summary: Well worth buying as this will keep you amused for hours